


A Little Broken, A Little New

by Rhobot



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: All in all it's a quiet and reflective piece, Fluffy-ish, Gen, There's a sprinkling of angst in there because of course, cat!, platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 19:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6533752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhobot/pseuds/Rhobot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A red sky at night means that fair weather is around the corner, but the clouds over Sanctuary remain heavy with rain. Meanwhile, the silent teleporter cuts an oppressive silhouette on the far side of the settlement. For the first time since they had started traveling together, Lex has gone somewhere Nick can't follow. And so he waits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter was one of the first Fallout-related pieces I wrote, and it has been sitting in my folder for the past two months. I suppose it's a rather self-indulgent piece - I like to take it out and read it when I need a spot of comfort - but hey, that's what I've come to learn that writing is for. 
> 
> Some things came up in my life that made updating "Guns, Spirits" too much this past weekend -- I hope you enjoy this in the meantime(:

The Commonwealth sky drizzled down a steady pittering of rain that threatened to grow heavier. The streets of Sanctuary glistened with it in the dying red light of the evening. _What was that old saying again?_ Nick wondered to himself as he drew up the collar of his trench coat to better protect the exposed wiring in his neck. _Red sky at night, sailor’s delight?_

He was drawn out of his musings by a tiny sound his audio processors almost didn’t pick up. He paused to listen, tilting his head slightly. There it was, again. Coming from one of the ramshackle houses that the settlers hadn’t cleared away fully yet.

After carefully moving aside and stepping through the rubble, Nick found the source of the sound. A bedraggled cat – or maybe a kitten; it was small – huddled at the bottom of an old trashcan. _Poor thing must’ve slipped and fallen in, and then couldn’t get back out again._ He moved the debris blocking the top and peered down at the gray mass of fur. It was shivering and staring up at Nick with its one good eye. It wouldn’t last out in the damp cold.

He reached in with his good hand to lift the creature out, and was welcomed by a pair of tiny sharp teeth sinking into the synthetic skin. “Ouch!” Nick pulled his hand back more out of surprise than out of hurt. “You've got spunk, kiddo,” he chuckled. The kitten bristled, ears flat. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya,” Nick sat, squatting down and ignoring the chill of the rain that splashed against the back of his neck. “But you don’t know that. Understandable. You probably don’t know what to make of me, eh?” He kept talking, voice soft as he could make it, and gentle, watching for signs of lessening tension in the small body. “Most don’t, I’ve found. Sometimes I don’t even know what to make of myself,” he admitted.

“But I’ve encountered a few who’ve given me a chance,” he said, a smile in his voice, thinking of Lex, who had dematerialized on that Institute-bound contraption two days ago; the same one that stood dark and ominous in its quiet on the other side of the settlement. No way to know if they’d made it, of how long he’d have to wait for them to come back. If they were going to come back.

The little cat shivered. It looked exhausted and miserable. “Here’s what I’m thinkin’,” Nick said, tilting his head back to look at the darker sky on the eastern horizon. “This rain isn’t the best for either one of us. But there’s a fire over there, and a roof, and food. Maybe you ought to consider coming with me.” He looked back down at the cat and it blinked up at him. It was still frightened, but enough time had passed that Nick seemed like less of a threat now. “So I’m gonna reach down to you, nice and slow, and then we’re both gonna go dry off. How’s that sound?” Nick waited a few good long moments before reaching his hand back down towards the kitten, slower this time. The kitten, predictably, tensed, and Nick paused, waiting.

It took patience, and by the end of it Nick was far more rain-soaked than he preferred to be, but he managed to scoop the kitten up without a struggle. He slipped the little mass of fur under his trench coat, where it was still mostly dry and warm. Tiny claws pricked the skin of his chest for a moment, before the kitten made the decision that it preferred the warmth to tearing Nick apart.

He stood, one of his knee joints creaking from the rain – he made a note to repair that – and started walking back to the main house in Sanctuary. The kitten curled against his chest, purring, Nick realized, a little in harmony to the whir of machinery inside him. A thought crossed his mind, then, and he laughed to himself.

“Ya know, kiddo, I got my start in a trash can too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This sat in my folder with the title of "Give Nick a Cat" until I listened to the Sleeping at Last song, ["North"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WpvCPTjgO8)


	2. Chapter 2

_A week later_

“You replaced me with a cat?” Lex asked, a smile on a face that looked more haggard than usual. They leaned into the doorframe, the bag they’d taken with them to the Institute hanging partway off their shoulder. But their eyes were still bright, and they looked at Nick and the little cat with fondness.

"Just temporary help while you were on leave,” Nick smiled. A sense of lightness burst in his chest - the relief of seeing them whole, re-materialized and alive.

Lex let their bag drop to the floor and sat down on the couch beside him, reaching over to scratch the small gray cat behind the ears. “This new detective got a name?” They asked as the kitten rubbed its face against their hand, purring.

“I’ve taken to calling her ‘Scrappy-Cat’,” Nick said, hardly surprised when Lex’s immediate reaction was to laugh. “What? It’s a fine and decent name.”

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Lex said, still laughing, shaking their head a little. “This is coming from the man who named a dog ‘Dogmeat,’ after all.” Nick harrumphed in half-hearted offense, and Lex bumped his shoulder with their own. “It fits the theme,” they said. “I like it. Scrappy-Cat.” They smoothed their hand down the cat’s thin frame and then scratched her ears once more before settling back, leaning into the couch and into Nick.

“You doing alright?” He asked quietly. The rain that had been lingering over the settlement started up again, pattering on the roof, dripping down onto one small section of the floor. Lex yawned and rested their head against his shoulder, drawing their legs up onto the couch.

“I’ll be okay,” they said, yawning again.

“Always here for you, partner,” Nick said. After a quiet moment he looked down at the human curled into his side and found their eyes closed, their breathing slowed and even. “Glad you came back,” he added softly.

The rain continued its rhythm. The cat had curled up into a ball on Nick’s lap, and between her and the fast-asleep Lex he was effectively stuck on the couch. Not that he minded, of course. Something worn and worried eased up in his chest; another part of his heart with some hurt still on it cleared up, as if washed by the soft and steady fall of rainwater.

Whatever Lex had found in the Institute had left them exhausted, and even in sleep their hand held onto the sleeve of his trench coat as if he moored them; at the same time, there was something oddly protective about that grip. Whatever had happened, they would both have to deal with it. Face it together, side by side, like always.

But that would come tomorrow; for now Nick was content to sit on a tattered pre-war couch, under a roof that had kept its promise to stay standing for a good two-hundred years, his partner a warm and welcome weight against him, the soft rise and fall of the cat’s breathing under his good hand. Nick closed his eyes, allowing the diagnostic that he’d been putting off for the past week to run.

Whatever was coming, it didn’t get to have this moment.

 _Ours_ , Nick thought, slipping into a rest as gentle and easy as the rain.


End file.
